What Happened After
by Andrew Fisher15
Summary: A story taking off on the cliffhanger where Mark of Athena ended, focusing on Percy and Annabeth where the book left them. Warning, don't read if you haven't read the book.
1. The Shadow

What is this? What happened after they fell—a much needed epilogue. It's currently a one-shot. Or it could be more—that decision, I'll leave to the reviewers.

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I could feel the sand on my cheek, the ocean breeze tugging at my jacket, at my hair. The faint glimmer of the water was a blur, just enough to make it out as it gently lapped the shore, stopping a few inches from me. Calypso's Island… or maybe it was the beach at Camp Half-Blood… I could barely see, as if I was looking through a glass. A distorted figure of a man stood just a few feet away, knee deep in the surf. I heard him speak, just one word.

"_Courage._"

With a roar, the waves were blasted away, the air turned frigid, and I sat up, inhaling sharply, opening my eyes. I brushed snow off my face, my hands already numb and shaking. When I looked at my hands, the white snow had streaks of red in it. Blood. I felt my head again. It was wet, matted, and hurt when I touched it. Something tasted badly—I spat, flecking the snow with more red. Maybe I had bit my tongue, or lost some teeth… I remembered falling—falling into eternal blackness.

"Annabeth?" I muttered, looking around me. I was in a snow bank… rocks were around me, and behind me, they spiraled upward. In front of me, they vanished downward. I was on a mountain. There wasn't any of the normal plant life, though. I couldn't see any trees or grass or even moss. I rubbed my eyes. It had been light before here, but now it was dark. I could see enough to walk around, but there wasn't any visible light. Twilight.

Panic constricted my lungs as memories came back, what happened. The spiders. Arachne. Falling… I looked around again, didn't see anyone.

"Annabeth!?" I screamed, my voice fading into the wind. "ANNABETH!"

"Percy?" I heard a faint voice. I forced myself to my feet. I took three steps before nausea threatened and a wave of dizziness hit me, forcing me to lean on a boulder, to focus. The sick feeling faded away.

"Annabeth?" I called. The panic ebbed.

"Here." The faint voice said. I stumbled away from my outcropping, around several huge boulders. They opened up to a tiny clearing snug against a sheer rock wall. Leaning against the rock was a battered teenage girl. Her face was red, though I couldn't tell if it was from the cold or from weeping.

"Annabeth. How long have we been here?" I asked, staggering over to her, slowly sitting down. Her ankle was still wrapped in a plastic bubble cast.

"I don't know…" She said slowly. "I can't tell." Her eyes finally focused on me, despair on her face. "I'm so sorry, Percy." I put a hand on her cheek, kissed her.

"We can get out of this." I said half-heartedly. "We've had bad before."

"This is hell, Percy." She said quietly. "We fell into shadow…"

"Why is it so cold?" I asked, looking around. "Why are we on a mountain?"

"_Dante's Inferno_." She murmured. I pulled her away from the rock, putting my arm around her, hoping to warm her a few degrees. "A man hundreds of years ago… visited Tartarus. It was cold, icy… he said it was because it was so far from heaven, from anything good…" I checked my pockets. Riptide was still there.

"We have to get off this mountain." I said slowly. "We'll freeze to death here, Annabeth." The man's voice echoed in the back of my head. _Courage. _I felt her cheek again, her ears. She was freezing worse than me. I cupped my hands around her face, breathed warmly on her cheeks, her nose. It wouldn't help for more than a few seconds, but still. I had to do _something_. She seemed a little less dazed. A little more awake, normal. She looked at me, around us. I saw tears forming.

"You should have let me fall." She sobbed, burying her face in my shoulder. "You shouldn't be here, Percy." I focused. Annabeth looked like she was in shock. I had to keep it together. But it was hard to think about the present. I didn't know whether it was the mountain, or my eyes, but everything was a little blurred. Hard to focus.

"I can't say for sure, where I'll end up," I said hazily, not thinking, "I just want to end up there with you." It was a song I had heard before… in a bar, in a café, a jukebox? My thoughts kept wandering, going to past quests, schools, movies I had seen, books I had read. A dim corner of my mind seemed to recall something about the dead not remembering who they were… maybe that was something the Underworld did… maybe it was hypothermia. I remembered a movie about people trapped underground, and it was cold… _"You'll just feel tired. That's how hypothermia begins… don't go to sleep,"_ the man had warned them.

I forced myself to stand. I so desperately wanted to rest, to sleep. But I couldn't. We couldn't stay here. I slapped myself across the face, stamped my feet. The mental haze cleared a little. My surroundings focused better. "Get up." I ordered her, taking her hands. I had carried people before, but picking them up off the ground was harder. Annabeth took my hands, and gingerly rose as I pulled her up. The wrapped foot touched the ground, and I saw pain jolt across her face. I put one hand under her arms, one hand under her knees, and lifted. She wasn't very heavy.

"You going to climb down a mountain like this?" She asked faintly. I kissed her cheek.

"All the way." I said. She shook her head.

"When we get down… there will be monsters, closer to the doors. We won't make it." She said. I took a breath, held Annabeth a little tighter. Hope. I hadn't given up hope, back at the foot of Olympus—it was still here. It would help us, if we wanted. I closed my eyes for a moment. _Please. _I begged silently. _Help me. Take away my doubt. _The mountain was still dark and dead and freezing, but my voice was sure when I spoke, when I started walking.

"I'm taking you home, Annabeth."


	2. Not much time

To my reviewers: thank you. I've thought about it, and this should go on a little longer, as most of you suggested. And to **VisciousTiger11—**very sharp, what you said came to mind. That is exactly why Annabeth referred to it as _Shadow_—because it was also on my mind.

* * *

What struck me was how desolate it was, how horribly empty, devoid of life. I adjusted my footing, looked at the unconscious girl in my arms. An image flashed to mind of her stuck here, alone. What would have happened had she fallen by herself—what would be if I failed.

The thought pushed me on. I carefully moved on, further down the mountain. It had felt like hours since I woke up, but there had been no change in the light. It was still twilight, still a shadow. The silence unnerved me. Annabeth hadn't been heavy at first, but I was getting tired, and could barely walk at normal pace. My hands and feet didn't hurt from the cold anymore. I hoped that didn't mean I had gangrene… if I could find water, hopefully it would heal me. I kept looking around, expecting something to attack.

But nothing did. It was as if we were banished, sent to a wasteland where nothing could live. I leaned against a boulder, breathing heavily, stamping my feet. The mountain went out focus again, blurred. I grimaced, trying to focus. We wouldn't make it much farther like this. I could barely walk. Annabeth… I had never seen Annabeth in that bad of shape, when we found her in Arachne's layer. Then, when we got father down, closer to the doors… it would be hopeless. Literally. The creatures would be there, fighting to get out. I would have to find a way through them.

"_You know, I once read an interesting book which said that, uh, most people lost in the wilds, they, they die of shame." _I shook my head, looked around. A blurry shape of a man stood a few feet away. I stared at him, uncomprehending. He couldn't be real. He looked like an older businessman, or something, dressed in the sort of coat people rich people wear in New York... And he wouldn't look so calm, trapped here… A faint whisper answered him, and he addressed someone I couldn't see, sounding patient, thoughtful. _"Yeah, see, they die of shame. 'What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this?' And so they sit there and they... die. Because they didn't do the one thing that would save their lives."_

"_And what is that, Charles?" a_nother whispered answered him, sounding tired and frustrated. The shape turned, looked straight at me.

"_Thinking."_The voice faded. I rubbed my eyes, and the man was gone. I glanced around, half-expecting him to appear again. But we were alone—and now snow was falling, but only lightly.

"Think." I said quietly. "Think." I didn't know if I was hallucinating, or maybe getting a message from the gods… I looked around, straining to catch any detail. To my right was a slightly easier path. I shifted Annabeth, took it—

Only for my foot to go into the second rock I stepped on, literally. I stared at it stupidly. It wasn't a rock.

It was a pack of some sort, almost covered in ice. I glanced around, half-expecting some monstrosity to leap out. Nothing happened. Nothing disturbed the cold silence. I glanced at Annabeth. She was breathing steadily, which had to be a good sign. I shook her a little, brushing my face against hers.

"Hey." I whispered. "Found something." She stirred, but didn't wake. Not yet, anyway. I surveyed my surroundings, trying to decide which was less horrible—the snow, or the rock. I picked neither, and awkwardly sat next to the pack, keeping as much of a hold on Annabeth as I could without putting her down. My grip shifted, brushed her thigh—a sudden warmth making my hand stop. I reached into her pocket, touched something hot.

It was the coin I had seen her hold earlier—a silver drachma with an eagle on it... no, it was an owl. Athena didn't have anything to do with eagles… I turned it in my hand, amazed. It was glowing, and warm, so warm it hurt my hands. But even as I examined it, the glow faded, the silver cooled. I cursed. I turned it over in my hand, considering. It wasn't cooling too quickly, it would stay warm for another few minutes… It wasn't very appropriate, but I tugged at the collar of Annabeth's shirt, and put the still-warm coin on her upper chest. I remembered a survival class… if someone was freezing cold, you weren't supposed to warm the hands or feet first. You were supposed to warm their center, preferably with blankets or warm drinks first... if you warmed hands first, the warm blood would shock the heart, or something like that… sadly, we didn't have any hot chocolate or blankets. She stirred a little. I reached over to the trapped backpack.

I batted as much of the snow as I could off the pack, and yanked it free, wondering how it could have gotten here. The zipper was frozen shut, so I uncapped Riptide and sliced it open, before reaching in slowly.

A canteen, frozen solid. I sniffed it, couldn't tell what it held. A bag holding a—sandwich? I inspected it, only half-surprised to not see any mold. I sniffed. It didn't smell bad, or even look old. Apparently nothing could grow here, not even mold or bacteria. The next thing I found was a pair of leather gloves. I gratefully slipped the right on my hand, figuring I'd give the other to her. I reached farther into the pack—felt my hand touch metal. I pulled it out further, and found myself holding a large handgun. I paused for a moment, surprised. I wasn't a great shot, but Athena cabin had started training with firearms recently. I pressed the magazine button, and it slid out. I checked the back. It had three slots down the back, showing the glint of cartridges. I guessed maybe five bullets were in, only a third full.

"Where… where are we?" Annabeth stirred awake, still mostly in my lap. Her eyes seemed clearer, her gaze focused. She sat up, looked around. She felt something and reached under her shirt. "What?" She held the coin up.

It was glowing again, now that she was touching it.

"I felt it through your pocket, warm." I said shortly, trying to speak clearly, despite the cold. "It stopped glowing as soon as I touched it." I mutely handed her the other glove, which she slid on.

"It only reacts to a child of Athena." Annabeth guessed. "Here, take a turn." She handed it to me. The glow faded as soon as I touched it, but it would still be warm for a minute or two. I put the warm coin against my neck, then I showed her the pack.

"We're closer to the base of the mountain." I said. I held up the handgun. She accepted it silently.

"Beretta 92f, made about 1985, in Italy." She said, slowly, looking at it. "They changed the model number later…" I slowly took another item out, making us both stare.

A celestial bronze dagger. Annabeth froze for a moment, as we realized where this probably came from.

"Another demigod, searching for the statue." I muttered. "The floor had cracks—"

"And the bag probably fell through, thirty years ago." She finished. She took the dagger, checked the blade. "Useable. We should take this with us." Annabeth gestured for me to take the handgun. I found two spare magazines in the pack.

"Will it do any good?" I asked. She didn't answer.

"Rack the slide. Like I showed you before." She said. I grasped the icy metal and pulled it back. It took a pull, but the metal gave, and I glimpsed a normal bullet sliding into place before I let the slide return. I knew that bullets didn't stay good forever, and was tempted to test fire it. But in this silence, it would be like a cannon going off. I didn't dare. We both just sat there for a moment, looking at each other, the pack, the mountain. There was everything to say—but it didn't form into words. Didn't emerge.I looked around us, half-expecting some demon to appear, maybe the ghost of Luke Castellan.

Nothing. This wasn't the fields of torture, where Hades had his minions inflict the worst punishments imaginable. This was Tartarus—the void where the gods cast the creatures they feared too much to torture. Hades didn't add torment to this place—the creatures trapped here did that part.

"I started seeing things, a little while ago." I told Annabeth quietly. "A man… he was talking to someone else, about people dying of shame because they got lost… then he vanished." Annabeth closed her eyes briefly, thinking.

"Percy… hallucinations are something hypothermia can cause." She said cautiously. "If we get off this mountain... it should be warmer. We won't be alone, but it shouldn't be so cold." I rubbed my hands together. "I can walk now, at least, if you're helping." She added. "We should keep going." I stood, shoving the cold pistol into the pocket of my jacket, and offered her a hand. We resumed the path…


	3. Dreams

Remember to review after reading! I read, notice, and appreciate every review.

And... Anthony Hopkins. That's how I imagine a certain someone in this chapter...

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"Not faring well?" A faint voice asked. The same voice I had heard earlier…

"Are you real?" I asked weakly. The shape blurred as I stared at it. When I looked away, just looked at him out of the corner of my eye—it focused, sharpened.

"Real. Funny term." The old man said, walking towards me and Annabeth. He looked like he could easily be sixty, seventy—but he looked sharp, alert. Not like some smelly old person that would be sitting around talking about 'the good old days.' His hair was very short, sparse, and pure white. The eyes caught my attention… they were glowing faintly, like the moon. "What is real depends on who you ask," The old man remarked. He looked like the ghost, the hallucination I had seen earlier, the man talking about why people die in the wilderness…

"Who are you, then?" I asked. He chuckled. Not harshly, or cruelly. Chuckled like an old man about to explain something to a child. I guess from his point of view, he was.

"No one you've ever met." He said softly. "But you still did me a kindness, when you were offered a great reward. You should have been glad for vengeance. But you asked for the opposite."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, shivering in the chill. Annabeth and I had made it down the mountain far enough that freezing wasn't a danger, but it was still cold and we were exhausted. She was sleeping. "Why are you here? Are you a dead person? A ghost?"

"No… no, I'm not dead. And I am here because I am one of the few who has any strength, here." The old man said. He sat down on a boulder next to me, wrapping his coat tighter around him. "I am Morpheus." I stared at him tiredly. He blurred, but not as much as before.

"The god of dreams." I said unnecessarily. He nodded, rubbing his hands together. They were mottled, blotches and dark veins on his hands standing out again the pale skin. "You fought for Kronos… you put the city to sleep." He nodded again, but he didn't look bitter, stung, or even surprised at my comment.

"Indeed. And after you defeated Kronos, you asked for peace—and for minor gods such as myself to be given respect." He said quietly. "As I said, you did me a kindness."

"Why are you here?" I asked blearily. "You weren't sent here… and Nico said even Hades won't go into Tartarus." He shrugged, looked around at the desolate landscape.

"I can be here, because those here dream of escape. Of seeing the sky again." He said regretfully. "In the end, when you have nothing—you can still have hope. You can still dream. That's what dreams are, mostly… the things people desperately want. Sometimes, they can become real." He looked at my shivering, at Annabeth's fitful sleep, and waved a hand. Around us, the snow vanished, replaced by my mom's apartment. Annabeth was no longer on the ground—she was wrapped in a blanket, lying on the couch. Morpheus and I were sitting in two comfy chairs by the fireplace. The twilight gloom was gone, replaced by a dim lamp and the glow of the fire. But it wasn't solid… it shimmered, almost ghostly.

"What is this?" I questioned. The cold dulled, flickered between warmth and icy chill.

"It is your dream. What you hope for." Morpheus said patiently. He held his hands out towards the fireplace. "What has been keeping you going in this place."

"It's not very real…" I muttered. Morpheus nodded sadly.

"It can only be as real as you see it." He explained. "As strong as your dream of returning to it." He took a compass out of his coat, checked it, then held it up for me to see. "That's your direction, if you wish to go to the House of Hades, and directly back into the mortal world. Dangerous, but perhaps not as much as going back through the Underworld."

"Can you help us get out of here?" I asked, trying to be more hopeful. Around me, things became a shade more solid. Annabeth seemed a little more peaceful. The fitful look on her face left, became more normal.

"If we were in the mortal world, I could transport you to wherever you wished… summon a feast, or allies to protect you." Morpheus chuckled ruefully. "But here, my power is a weak shadow of what it is above, where dreams can so easily become reality."

"So… no?" I said. The ghostly apartment flickered, giving flashes of the wasteland again.

"I can't get you out of here." He said. "But I can still help you keep going. I can hide you from the eyes of those who would do you harm. As long as your dream survives, as long as you have hope of returning home, I will be able to help." He saddened a little, looking at Annabeth. "You should have let her fall—the blame would have been her mother's to bear, not yours. Your life is more important than hers." I didn't quite know what to say. I watched Annabeth breathing for a few moments, remembering when she got out of the _Argos_ _II _at New Rome… when I was in the River Styx, and had a vision of her pulling me up out of the water...

"She **is** my life." I said quietly, feeling a little more at peace, more sure that we would make it through this. My doubts ebbed away, beaten back by a feeling that as long as she was alright, I would be, too. We always managed to come through.

To my surprise, Morpheus suddenly laughed; a warm, friendly sound.

Around us, my home shimmered, became nearly solid, and abruptly vanished. The cold returned, jolting Annabeth awake and hitting me like a slap in the face. I turned around a few times, looking for the old man.

Morpheus was gone. All that remained of the ghostly apartment was a small blue thermos on the boulder where he had been resting, along with the compass. I picked the thermos up, reading the words on the attached note.

_Keep hoping, Percy._

I unscrewed the plastic cup off the top, and removed the plug. Steam wafted out, and I smelled a familiar drink. Annabeth rubbed her eyes blearily, breathing on her hands. Confusion flickered across her face as she looked around, remembered where we were. She looked crushed, like she was fighting tears.

"I dreamed we were out of here…" She said flatly, despair in her voice as she sat up. "That we were—"

"At my mom's apartment?" I finished. I held out the cup, trying to keep my hand steady. She looked at me incredulously, but took the hot chocolate and drank, pausing in between sips as though it was scalding hot.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Morpheus." I said shortly, rubbing my arms. "He appeared."

"And left us hot chocolate?" Annabeth asked skeptically. "Helpful guy."

"He explained something…" I said. "About hope. Dreaming. As long as we don't give up hope, as long as we dream of going home, he can help us."

"Why can he be hear and not even Thanatos will enter?" She asked. I didn't answer, but carefully sipped some hot chocolate from the thermos. It tasted exactly like the hot chocolate my mom makes on cold nights. The heat was shocking, spreading through me. Sensation returned to my hands. I could even feel my toes again. I showed her the compass.

"So do we know which way to go?" Annabeth asked. "To get to the gates?" I nodded.

"Hopefully… we get met with reinforcements." I mused. "Nico explained… the doors of death have to be sealed from both sides. From Tartarus, and the mortal world."

"So someone is stuck here, and has to go to the Underworld?" Annabeth said. I nodded, remembering warnings given to me long ago. _Once you are in his realm he will never willingly let you leave… _

"It's not going to be us." I said flatly. "Whatever team that goes back through the Underworld, it has to be with Nico. Someone Hades won't kill." Annabeth looked relieved. I was, too. It would be hard enough to make it to the doors. To get to the doors, then trek back through to reach the Underworld? Suicide. "We meet the others at the gates and get out of here."


	4. A Forest

It's been a little while, here's my next update. Thanks very much to those who reviewed, I greatly appreciate it.

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_You feel so lonely and ragged, _

_You lay here broken and naked,_

_My love is just waiting _

_To clothe you in crimson roses!_

— "Whispers in the Dark"_  
_

I used to hate when people claimed they could 'sense it' coming. But it wasn't far from the truth.

Once we had gotten down the mountain, the black rock and icy cold turned to a dead forest. Literally. We were surrounded by trees, as far as I could see. Tall, black, and dead. Occasionally a crow flew overhead, cawing loudly, startling us. I had no clue what they ate here, or how they were alive at all. I focused, tried to hold onto the hope I had felt around Morpheus. The dream.

"How do you think it's going at camp?" I asked quietly. Staying quiet would probably have been a better idea, but the silence was unnerving.

"Very badly." Annabeth sad shortly. "For the Romans." I managed a faint smile. Reyna had_ almost_ been a friend, but after the skirmish at Fort Sumter… Annabeth had tried to explain why the Leo had fired on New Rome, but Reyna didn't care. She had tried to get Annabeth to surrender, openly stating she'd be taken back to New Rome and executed painfully.

Everyone over age 10 had seen at least a few crucifixes, and knew the backstory of Jesus, how he died on a cross. Now it was a symbol of Christianity, of the church.

Quite a few people didn't know that the cross was a Roman symbol for quite a while before that. It was literally one of the worst ways humanly possible to die, and an invention of Rome. The victim would usually have been beaten half to death beforehand. Then he would be laid down on the cross, and huge spikes driven through his feet, and one spike driven through each arm, just below the wrist and between those two bones in the forearm. The victim would take hours to die due to how they were positioned, agonizingly pushing themselves up against the spikes for each breath, until their muscles cramped and they suffocated. Jesus hadn't died a quick death.

Needless to say, I'd sooner kill Reyna myself than let Annabeth end up on a cross.

"How do you figure that?" I said, trying to ignore the trees. I felt like we were being watched, listened to.

"Simple." Annabeth whispered. "I saw their camp. They're still Roman Legionaries. Imperial gold weapons, spears, shields, bows, swords. And I did cabin inspection before we left, saw Ares' cabin. Clarisse and Vincent turned their siblings modern."

"They're outnumbered pretty badly." I remembered unhappily.

"The Ares campers will even that up pretty quickly with landmines, mortar fire, and 40mm grenades." Annabeth said distractedly. "My siblings only have light weapons, but we still have shotguns and assault rifles. I tried to give Piper a Mossberg 500 when she showed up at camp. She preferred a dagger…" Silence fell as we kept walking through the woods. It seemed like hours.

I noticed something odd about the trees… not a leaf in sight. On the ground, or on the trees. The branches… they looked odd. The 'bark' was a grainy, dark color. I stopped after brushing a trunk, looking at my fingertips. It looked liked dried blood. Annabeth looked from my fingertips to my face to our surroundings. I saw alarm flicker on her face.

"We need to get through here." She said quietly. "This is a bad place to be, Percy." I hesitated, reached out, touched one of the branches. On impulse, I snapped a twig off. A dark fluid oozed from the break.

"Why do you wound me?" A voice groaned. Annabeth and I jerked backwards, away from the tree. "Is my suffering not great enough for you?" The voice was low, gravelly, and seemed to be coming from the tree. I was frozen in shock as a few seconds ticked by.

"You killed yourself." Annabeth ventured, speaking to the tree. "That's how you died. You were a person."

"And now I suffer for it." The voice whispered, the dark fluid becoming solid around the break. I stared, horrified.

"We're in the forest of suicides." Annabeth said, sounding strangely detached, looking around the dead forest. "Those who destroy their bodies in life do not get to keep them in death. As they silenced themselves through wounds, they now can only speak through a wound." Alarm bells were going off in my head, slightly dulled by what was occurring to me. Every dead tree I saw had a been human being, a person who had succumbed to despair or fear and ended their own lives. Now they were doomed to this existence, forever... and there were thousands of them, at least.

I grabbed Annabeth's hand and started walking as rapidly as I thought she could keep up. Either through the ambrosia or Morpheus's power, her ankle had healed enough for her to walk. I wanted to run. My free hand found riptide and gripped it.

That was when I heard it—wings, beating the dead air. Annabeth and I turned in time to see **it **land. It was seven feet tall, at least. The wings were huge and bat-like. The arms and legs looked muscular and tough, but there were places where the flesh was sliced open, revealing bone and muscle, as though wounds never healed. The face looked like that of a man, except hideous and deformed, goat horns sprouting from his head. A huge curved sword hung at its belt, like something arabic. For a brief second, no one moved.

I remembered my first fight, with the minotaur, briefly. The first time I had realized my own speed and abilities, how I dodged several blows with ease as I noticed every tiny detail.

I saw the arms tense, the hands move towards the belt even as I shoved Annabeth behind me and activated Riptide. The huge scimitar came down in an arc and clashed against my blade, even as Riptide finished extending. The shockwave ran up my arms, like I had hit a brick wall. It stepped back, eyeing me with new interest.

"Spawn of the lesser ones." It growled. The voice was deep, and sounded bizarrely like three beings speaking at once. "You tread in this land without having passed judgement."

"What… **are** you?" I demanded, holding my sword ready, adrenaline surging through me. It chuckled, a brutal, evil sound. "One of Hades' minions?" I asked.

"I served the **first**, He who was here before the foundations of the earth." The monster growled. "Yet he cast many of us down."

"Be gone!" Annabeth ordered, holding her knife at ready. The monster looked from me, turning to Annabeth—

I lunged forward, slashing at its torso, hoping the scimitar would be too slow to block in time.

The creature simply leaned backwards, dodging the strike with ease, twisting and bringing the huge scimitar up, slicing upward in a move that nearly gutted me. I turned, barely avoiding losing an arm, then rolled, striking at the huge feet. It simply jumped. I regained my feet, brought Riptide back—

And was kicked in the chest with a clawed, dragon-like foot, sending me straight into a tree trunk. The monster cocked its head sideways and advanced. I crawled, grabbed Riptide—

A small cry sounded, and the creature spun, neatly grabbing the knife Annabeth had thrown, catching it by the hilt. It chuckled, then simply dropped the knife, taking a leisurely step towards her. I regained my feet, brought Riptide up, and leaped towards the thing, screaming like madman and bringing my blade down in the heaviest strike I could muster. It turned and easily brought the huge scimitar up again to meet my blow.

Riptide cleaved through the metal and cut almost a foot vertically down into the monster holding it. I was still shaking with insane rage as it dropped, holding onto the blade, still embedded in dark flesh. Annabeth was frozen, looking between me and the dead creature. I put a foot on the shoulder and pushed, freeing Riptide.

And dropped my sword, holding my arms. Searing pain jolted through me—it felt like I had torn most of the muscle in my arms and shoulders with that strike. Annabeth just hugged me.

"You okay?" She whispered, kissing me. I nodded faintly, trying weakly to rub my arms. She noticed quickly. "It'll get better. You just pushed a bit too far." She picked up Riptide, looking around.

"What **was** that thing?" I asked, looking at the body. "I don't remember anything like that in the legends."

"Not important." Annabeth said. She stomped on something small, I didn't notice what it was in time. "We need to move."


	5. The City

_T__his time, this place, _

_Misused, mistakes. _

_Too long, too late, _

_Who was I to make you wait? _

_Just one chance, just one breath, _

_Just in case there's just one left…_

_Cause you know, you know, you know… _

_I love you! I loved you all along! _

_And I miss you, from far away for far too long!_

—"Far Away"

* * *

We saw the smoke first, from miles away, rising in the gloomy twilight. The dead forest was behind us. My arms still hurt, badly, but the pain was ebbing away slowly.

"I'm sorry." Annabeth said abruptly, breaking the silence as we walked along quietly. "I shouldn't have gone… in Rome. I shouldn't have left you. Not after everything that happened." I weighed her words for a moment, thought of comforting things to say back. I heard her stomp something, and turned to see her grinding her heal against the ground.

"Nope, you shouldn't have gone." I said honestly. "You really should have stuck with me, and we all could have fought some giants and gone home." She looked at me, surprise on her face. She looked torn between wanting to smack me and a faint smile.

"Aren't you suppose to tell me I did the right thing, like a supportive boyfriend?" She asked wryly. "I went on a quest for a goddess, my mother, so it was worth it?"

"If your mother cared that much about recovering that statue, she would have been willing to send a half dozen of her kids at once, not one every few years to die alone." I shrugged. "And I love you enough to be honest with you." She was silent for a few minutes, and I wondered if I had angered her. It wasn't on my list of concerns at the moment. I still remembered Athena basically threatening to incinerate me if I broke Annabeth's heart—only for Athena herself to disown Annabeth a few years later. Granted, that was more Minerva, but still…

"Love you too, Percy." Annabeth said quietly, bringing me back to our surroundings as we climbed a hill, the smoke looking closer. We reached the top—and both froze at what we were seeing.

It looked like New York City. A bombed, burning New York City. The twilight was broken around the city by dozens of fires, and I thought I could hear screams, even though the city's edge looked four or five miles away, at least.

"What is this?" I asked, too stunned to be further horrified.

"You're getting closer." A voice said. "Just need to get higher, now." We both turned. The old man we knew as Morpheus was sitting on a rusted park bench, staring at the ruined, burning copy of New York City. It looked like it had been attacked and maybe bombed—towers with chunks blown away, buildings lying in heaps of rubble, and smoke rising to the sky.

"What's waiting for us in there?" Annabeth questioned. Morpheus shook his head sadly.

"Many things. One of which, you are well aware of." Morpheus told her. He looked at me. "This isn't going to be easy, Perseus. The being you met in the forest—is a lesser soldier. There are not many, but if you attract more of them, they will destroy you both with ease."

"Any helpful advice?" I asked. He smiled faintly.

"Have you told him what is following you?" He asked Annabeth. She shifted uncomfortably. Morpheus sighed. "Child, did you think those spiders were drawn to you for no reason?" I looked at her.

"I've always had a problem with them." Annabeth said quietly. "She… she has to be dead."

"Yet she is not. Not dead enough to be no danger here." Morpheus said gently. "She knows your destination, and will try to trap you there. Once you have fought your way to the top."

"The top of what?" I asked.

"This place is a cruel shadow of the real world." Morpheus explained. He pointed to a tall building, just visible amid the fires and smoke. "The doors of death—are at the top of that tower."

"What are those screams?" Annabeth asked. Morpheus gave her a hard look.

"What do you _think_ they are, child?" He said. "They are the screams of people who committed sins so terrible they deserve the highest punishment. They are tortured day and night, forever. Do not stop, or try to help them. Touch no one."

"Not much forgiveness here, huh?" Annabeth muttered, looking at the hellish city.

"Forgiveness is only ever given only to those who repent." Morpheus said. "Hence why pride is such a dangerous flaw." Annabeth hesitated for a moment, and I saw something flicker across her face. She had told me in the Sea of Monsters that _hubris_ was her fault, deadly pride.

"I'm working on it." She said weakly. Morpheus sighed.

"Yet you are here because your pride overcame your intelligence." He said, sadness on his face. "And because of your actions, Percy is here as well. No man is an island, child."

"I'm here because I chose to be." I snapped, putting a hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "Don't go blaming her."

"You are here because the girl you love foolishly went on a suicide mission." Morpheus shook his head. "Didn't Athena tell you your flaw was being too loyal? Annabeth went on her quest, knowing that dozens of her siblings had gone and died. Ergo, she went on a dangerous quest knowing her love would move heaven and earth to find her again, even if it meant going to hell." I glanced at Annabeth. A tear was silently rolling down her face. Morpheus noticed as well, and his expression softened a little. "Show me the weapons you found." I numbly yanked the icy handgun out and handed it to him, then took Annabeth's knife, and provided it as well. Morpheus closed his eyes, holding on weapon in each hand. The rust, the age, faded away. The knife looked newly made and polished. The handgun was gleaming. Silently, he handed them back, then reached into his pockets, pulling out a brown paper bag that he set on the bench.

"Percy, Annabeth… even now, there is hope." Morpheus said. With that, he turned and strode away, fading and blurring with every step until he vanished.

* * *

I saw a video interview of a man, who had died for several minutes in a hospital. He was screaming when they revived him, and tried to flee room, shrieking that 'they' were killing him, ripping him apart. The doctors managed to calm him down, talked to him. He said there had been fire, burning… when the doctor tried to get him to keep talking, the man just refused and started sobbing, terrified of whatever he had seen.

I didn't blame him.

"Please… I'm so cold." Another voice. A man, wearing some sort of uniform. Blood was pooled around him, and horrible wounds laced his chest. He looked like he should have been dead, there was no way a person could live through that. "I'm so cold…" I pulled Annabeth along. The skyscraper was one of the few buildings still standing, visible above the ruins. I held Riptide, the glowing blade ready to fight. The street was littered with rubble, burning cars, bodies. Many of them weren't intact. Horribly, most of them were moving, if only crawling and moaning. It looked like a massacre had happened.

"Alley." Annabeth whispered, pulling me towards it. I complied, and she flattened herself against the side of the dumpster, gesturing for silence. I peeked around the side, wondering what she had seen.

One of those creatures landed in the street, wings folding back as he took several steps. Like the other one, he had a huge scimitar, standing seven or eight feet tall. It looked around, eyes scanning the darkness. I tried to shield Riptide, hoping it wouldn't notice the faint glow, but too afraid to risk retracting the blade. Apparently not seeing us, it turned away and walked out of sight. I heard a guttural moan, a cry of pain, as if it had run one of the bodies through. Annabeth tapped my shoulder, pointed towards the far end of the ally. She was breathing rapidly, fear written on her face. I motioned her to go, slowly.

We crouch-walked, using our hands as much as our feet, trying not to make a sound on the rubble. Ahead of me, Annabeth flinched and jerked backwards from something, letting out a tiny cry. I held Riptide up.

A tarantula was crawling towards her, raising its forelegs, little mandibles clacking. Maybe it was the dark, but it looked bigger than the ones you see at petstores. They were usually four inches or so, from front to back. This one looked more like eight, or ten. I grabbed a small chunk of brick and dropped it on it.

It pushed the chunk off itself and kept going, ignoring me. I scowled, then just stabbed it with Riptide, like a bug on a display board. I reared back and heaved forward, sending it sailing off the sword's point and against a brick wall farther down the alley. There was a small _splat_ sound. I glanced at Annabeth. She pointed at me, then forward. I nodded and took point.

At the end, I paused to look up and around again, keeping my eye on our destination. Annabeth was just a foot behind me or so, holding the celestial bronze dagger we had found on the mountain…

I moved back into the street, keeping to the shadows. Hopefully there wasn't too much worse lurking around the city. We passed a variety of shops, that looked disturbingly like what I'd see in the real city. Little specialty stores, a burned out grocery store, even a Starbucks that looked on verge of collapse. Overhead, streetlights flickered once in a while. I wasn't sure if we were safer in the light or out of it… I doubted anything here was afraid of light.

When we got closer, I noticed two things. Namely, the building we needed to get too—was across a freak river. But there was another building on our side, that connected to it by skybridge. I hoped it was intact. I could make out some of it, but not all…

* * *

"That's where she will be." Annabeth murmured, looking at the skybridge through the broken window. "Perfect trap." We were in the back of an abandoned gas station. No food to be seen, of course. But there had been a few wafers of ambrosia in the paper bag Morpheus left us.

"Maybe. Or maybe she's dead." I countered. "She did fall to Tartarus. What could survive that?" I could hear screams, not too far. Now and again, a roar of something. I kept scanning the darkness around us.

"What if **we** are dead?" Annabeth wondered.

I froze. Seconds ticked by as her question dawned on me. My heart literally skipped a beat. Annabeth noticed the look on my face.

"What if we're dead, and just escaping like all the monsters?" Annabeth asked, an unreadable expression on her. I hesitantly put a finger to my own neck, praying to God that… yes. I'd never been so happy to feel my own pulse. I reached over and put a hand on Annabeth's neck.

"We've both got pulses." I said, relieved. She relaxed a little.

I resumed breathing.

* * *

Remember to please review, if you liked it. And Merry Christmas!


	6. Endgame

_ You show me the real me._

_ It's __**you**__ that I searched for, _

_ And it's you that I can't live without! _

_ Your hope is what I long for_

_ When nothing's left in me.-_"It's you."

* * *

"Amazing the elevators work." Annabeth remarked idly, staring down at the burning city as we rose higher along the outside of the skyscraper. I was a little frightened. Not of the city.

Of Annabeth. Her eyes, usually so stormy and full of life, seemed vacant. Empty.

"This isn't where we're spending eternity." I said, half to convince myself.

"That's probably what everyone down there thought." Annabeth said flatly. "She's waiting for me. And she'll be so much stronger, here."

"Remember what Morpheus told us." I reminded her, checking my weapons again. "There's still hope." She was silent for a few moments.

"I can't see it." Annabeth said. She sounded on the verge of a sob. "Percy, heroes don't get a 'happy ever after.' " I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and tried to keep my calm.

"If you're really Annabeth, I **know** you can get through this." I said firmly. "We both can." I heard her turn around.

"Of course I'm Annabeth." She said, sounding a little baffled.

"I know." I shrugged. "I just figured you needed the reminder." I saw the corner of her lips tug upwards, just a tiny bit.

"You're still the same as—"

A thump made us both turn. A huge spider was on the outside glass of the elevator. Maybe it had jumped, or swung on a web string…

And it was big. Big, as in, it probably ate whole chickens for lunch. As we watched, three more _thumped_ onto the glass, looking like they had jumped from much higher up and somehow glided.

"We've got to get out of here." Annabeth said, fear in her voice. She punched a button, and the elevator came to a stop. The doors creaked open.

Down the hall, several big dogs turned towards us. I don't know what breed they were, except they were black and had splashes of blood on them.

Annabeth clicked the "close door" button, as they began running. Thank God, the elevators weren't the slow type you find at storage facilities and such. The doors shut, and we started rising again. Outside, the spiders started hitting the glass. There were dull _thunks_, like someone punching a wall.

"Think they can get in?" Annabeth asked. I extended Riptide.

"Let's go to one level above the skybridge." I said, punching another floor. "Inside, we're easier to trap, she can come at us from above, and it's probably tighter quarters, easier for her to put webbing out. On top of it, she can't."

"Then she can come at us from the sides." Annabeth pointed out. "She might have a web above the skybridge."

"Do you really want to be in a tight hallway with a giant spider?" I asked. She fell silent for a moment, glancing at the enormous spiders knocking on the glass.

"On top." Annabeth agreed. The elevator hummed on, the spiders knocking on the glass. It dawned on me, they couldn't get in—distractions? Or just to demoralize us? The elevator slowed, and opened, our floor.

"Stay right behind me." I told Annabeth. We moved cautiously into the hallway. The walls… they were cracking, breaking down into nothing. Far down the hallway, something flickered, and I raised Riptide.

"Right side." Annabeth whispered. There were some offices, a cubicle farm—and huge set of windows overlooking the city, along with the skybridge. We moved through it, slowly. The cubicles had little mementos in them—things that office workers put, like pictures or tiny figures. Something bumped my foot—I looked down to see the floor littered with shell casings, different sizes. Like a firefight had happened here. Annabeth, impatience fueled by terror, strode over to the window overlooking the skybridge, and drew her knife. The celestial bronze cut through the thick glass with ease. She paused for a moment, mostly finished, and gave one last slice. The chunk fell away, crashing down to the skybridge.

"Annabeth!" I snapped, appalled at the noise. She gave me a look.

"No other way." She said rapidly, crouching in the hole she had made, and jumping down. I gave one last glance back at the dark, rotting office. Near the back, a shadow moved, and I had the fleeting impression of something shaped like a man.

I jumped.

"Across, then up?" Annabeth remarked, glancing down into the hellish city.

"That's the plan." I said, walking forward as rapidly as I dared, hoping not to step in some weak space that would send me crashing through the floor.

Half-way across, it happened. Up walls of the skybridge, crawled the spiders. They just stared as us, gleaming black eyes watching for a moment.

Then I shot one. The handgun recoiled, and the spider collapsed, a bullet in its bank of eyes. My ears were ringing from the explosion, but I turned quickly and lined up the sights, squeezing the trigger. Another muzzle flash, and the bug jerked backwards, twitching and spasming.

The other turned and ran.

"Wow." I said, weighing the handgun with new appreciation, though I still held Riptide in the other hand. "That was easy."

A few feet away, the ceiling/roof of the skybridge _exploded_ upwards, spraying debris, and I glimpsed some hideous _shape_ rising up, moving so fast. I reacted almost as quickly, raising my sword and slashing. Annabeth fell, either hit by a chunk of debris or by the arm of that **thing. **I slashed again, the bronze sword leaving a faint light trail, driving it back.

She was huge, the size of a big woman, with a human torso that went down and became spider around the waist, like a spider-centaur. Idiotically, the image of the bad guy from those _Mummy_ movies sprang to life, the scorpion thing Rick O'Connell killed in Egypt. I slashed again, Arachne recoiled, and I brought the pistol up, squeezing the trigger as rapidly as I could. The gun bucked, and bullets splattered into her torso, rising upwards with the recoil. She backed off, perhaps a little surprised at my response. I looked down at Annabeth, who thank the gods, had not gotten knocked off the skybridge. Arachne stepped away a few more paces, purple blood leaking from the gunshot wounds. Even as I watched, they started closing, healing. My calm evaporated, and I realized what Annabeth meant when she said Arachne would be stronger here. No joke.

"Can you hear me?" I shook Annabeth. "Wake up!" Farther down on the skybridge, Arachne meandered a little, healing before my eyes. I raised the Beretta, aimed. The gun boomed, and I saw a spurt of blood on her torso. I fired again, aiming for her hideous face. The bullet smacked home, but she didn't seem to care too much.

"Get away from her, son of Poseidon." Arachne shouted over the wind. "Because of her mother, I was cursed—cursed for my skill! Her children will pay until Athena does justice, and restores my beauty!" Around her, huge spiders were crawling up the sides again, as if sensing a meal actually _was_ within grasp.

"Not this one." I said, aiming with both hands. Ten more bullets ripped into her face and chest, but she didn't stop, or even advance faster. This wasn't working. Terror rose up in my throat, choking me. I had seen people die. This wouldn't be some battlefield death by arrow or sword. This would be horrific.

"Come on!" I pleaded with Annabeth, shaking her. "Don't let it end like this!"

"Your father isn't here, Percy." Arachne taunted. "This isn't the ocean. This is _my_ domain. There are no gods to help you here." Her words echoed in my mind.

She was wrong.

I closed my eyes, forcing myself to picture us, back at my mom's apartment. The fire crackling, Annabeth sleeping peacefully on the couch, looking as beautiful as ever. _Morpheus. I will get home. I will get home. I WILL GET HOME! _

Around us, the air shimmered, and became…

"Zoe Nightshade?" I gasped. More shapes became clear. "Ethan?"

Hunters and demigods I had seen die in battle appeared around me.

"Run!" Beckendorf bellowed. To my amazement, and growing hope, they were becoming something solid, though definitely still ghost-like. Beckendorf swung a hammer at a large spider. It writhed, and collapsed. I looked around quickly. I couldn't go back into the building. Not with whatever was there. I raised Riptide and slashed a triangle into the 'roof' at my feet.

The metal fell down into the semi-darkness.

It looked clear enough. I slipped the pistol into my pocket, collasped Riptide, and heaved Annabeth up.

Whenever you read about situations like, people always comment on how light the unconscious person is. Annabeth? She weighed a ton.

I jumped down through the triangle, my knees almost buckling as I hit the floor. In front of me, the glowing ghost of Zoe Nightshade appeared, urging me on. She had a faint gold aurora around her.

"How are you here?" I asked, a horrible possibility dawning on me. Had she been sent to—

"Morpheus offered us a chance to fight to help thee, one last time." She said, a proud look on her face. "But hurry! He hath only the strength for us to be here for a short time. Then, we must return to Elysium, and you to the world of the living." She ran ahead, scouting. I thought I saw another one of those _things_, whatever had been in the shadow, but it vanished in the light coming from Zoe. I caught up with her, still holding Annabeth. Ahead of us were another bank of elevators.

"At the top, you will see thy escape." She said, her words faint and almost musical. "You must have faith." She was fading.

"Wait!" I said. She looked at me. I realized, there wasn't nearly enough time for what I should say. What do you say to someone who died rescuing your girlfriend? "Zoe, thank you. Again."

She just smiled faintly, and then she was gone.

The elevator clicked open. By some miracle, or design of whatever building was being mimicked, the elevator had taken us to the very top of the building.

The horrible thing was, I could see two of those winged demons flying towards us. We had been noticed.

I looked around the rooftop. It was a helipad, or had been in the real world. The design was still faintly painted on the ground. I had expected the exit to be some blinding light, some rip in space, or something amazing.

Instead, I saw two simple stone pillars, standing about ten feet apart. Spanning the top was a slab of stone, carved with letters I couldn't read. Scattered around it were chunks of flat rock, like giant bricks.

The winged demons were getting closer, maybe a hundred yards. Zoe's caution, that I would need faith, came back to mind. There was nothing else noticeable on the roof. Nothing to suggest an escape.

I ran at the doorway, closing my eyes as it got nearer. My right foot didn't meet anything solid, and we fell...

* * *

"GET UP!" A voice bellowed at me. I felt a slap across the face, hard enough that it hurt. A lot. "We are leaving!" I heard loud explosions, felt a wave of heat.

I opened my eyes blearily, reached out and grabbed the foggy shape in front of me. It tightened around my hand, hauled me to my feet. My legs almost buckled, and something caught me under my arm. There were orange flashes of light, and I could make out the face of the person holding me.

Vincent, son of Ares, from Camp Half-Blood.

"Annabeth!" I managed to say. It had been meant as a shout, but probably was just above a whisper.

"She's right there!" Vincent shouted, jerking his head. He had an M4 combat rifle in one hand, the stock wedged under one arm. He fired a burst. It sounded like the air itself was being torn apart, and in the beam of the flashlight mounted on the rifle, I saw the shape of something falling back, blood splattering around us. The air was filled with gunfire, explosions, and shouts, only some of them human. I saw Annabeth to my right, slung over the shoulder of a big demigod, running towards what seemed a faint light, with a group of demigods protecting him. Strength returned to me, and I let go of the demigod holding me. He immediately swung the rifle around, squeezing off three more rounds. Another demigod with a sword grabbed my arm, pulling me towards what I now realized was the mouth of the cave.

"JASON!" I heard Vincent bellow, speaking into a radio. "WE HAVE THEM! EVAC IN 90 SECONDS!" I made it to the mouth of the cave, being protected by two demigods on each side of me.

It was night, but it was most undeniably the land of the living. I could see a full moon above us, could make out hills and trees and grass. Life.

"Keep going!" One of my protectors shouted, wielding sword that somehow shown black in the moonlight. Nico. Behind us, the cave mouth threatened to spawn more monstrosities.

"Grenade out!" Vincent yelled. Behind us in the cave, a explosion almost knocked me down.

Ahead of us, I could see more gunfire, bright flashes lighting up the night. Cyclops and Eartborn and hellhounds were charging and attacking. The demigods were arranged around a helicopter that looked bizarrely out of place, but were holding it, albeit only with a lot of gunfire. Abruptly, lighting flashed from one of them, striking down dark shapes rushing the chopper.

Jason Grace. As we neared, he ran over towards us, holding a spear and flanked by several demigods in combat uniforms and wielding assault rifles.

"Glad you could make it!" He shouted.

"Let's go!" I yelled. He nodded and turned to the fighters arranged around the chopper. I saw Annabeth being helped into the chopper.

"FALL BACK!" Jason roared, summoning more lighting against monsters. "WE'RE LEAVING!" The fighters neatly broke positions and ran into the Chinook, throwing hand grenades as they did so, buying a few more seconds. Jason and his men retreated, and I realized dimly I needed to board to when Vincent grabbed my arm and almost pulled me off my feet. We were the lasts on.

"GO!" Someone bellowed. "LIFTOFF!" Multiple demigods were firing through the windows, and Vincent was crouched a few inches from me, firing through the door at approaching attackers. The rotors picked up speed, and the ground melted away, and the rear door moved upwards, locking into place. The only light came from the flashlights mounted on various weapons, and weak red overheads.

"Where's Annabeth?" I yelled. My ears were still ringing from the gunfire.

"Here." She shoved between two fighters and grabbed me in a tight hug, then kissed me. "We made it. My gods, we made it, Percy." I saw tears on her face.

There were some on mine, too. Around us, people started laughing, relieved talk starting even as the air still reeked of gunpowder.

"Pilot!" Vincent shouted. "Let's go home!"

* * *

While perhaps not as complete an ending as deserved, this is where this story ends. Thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed!


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